The Irish standard., 1887-10-15
THEIR LOST OPPORTUNITIES.
What the Irish Gentry Might Have
Done, But Neglected
to DO.
WILLIAM O'BR|EN's PLAIN TALK,
The Talented Editor Of United Ireland
Tells rlain Unvar-
nishel Ta]e.

nishea Tale.
In the course of his receDtly-dellvered
lecture on the above subject, Edltor
William Osisrien said: [ remember NOT
SO very long ago "democracy''' used to
be thought an awful, almost q naughty
word among genteel people III Ireland.
Some Of us had no more conception Oh
what sort of uncouth animal demo-
crat was than Mrs. Partington had OF
the attiibutes of the ailegory on the
Nile. Irishmen were supposed to be
nothing if net admirers OF the old arls
tocracy. II you were to believe Charles
T,ever's novels, man, if he were only
one Of the ancient lineage, might,
without detrment to his popularity.
desolate a whole countryside, he might
beggar his tenants and mortgage his
property up to the eyes, he might get
drunk every nig!lt OF his life, and put a
bullet through an unfortunate Trades-
1Dan if he asked fol- payment OF his DILL
The Irish people We're supposed rather
to like that sort OF thing from q gentle
man Of spirit, and The people put their
hands to their bats for him, as IT lt
were the best fan in the world to be
evicted and swindled by one OF the Old
stock. 1t is the irony OF fate that the
very practices which The irish gentry
rebuke with celestial srace i'll the
Hrish peasants cf to- day as crimes OF the
blacklist dye are only faint limitations
of the pastimes of their own fathers
grandfathers. Tarring bailltt
making him swallow his own lati-
,s1s is a proceeding copied from the
highest aristocratic precedents. MT.
George Robert Fitzgerald was by no
means the only man who mounted q
ansnon upon his cattle to give the mln-
listers of the law q hotter reception than
they encountered at Body]1e and Cool
CREAMY. It was the regular way Of dis
charging honest debts in well-hred CIT
cles. The noble family Of Kingston,
who are at tllis moment SO Mortified BY
the people OF Mitchelstown barrlcad1ng
their homes and defending the1n> We're
themselves FOR many a day Sunday
men" and kept their castle provisioned
for seige. It is, indeed, because they
did 80. and left their debts unpaid-the
debts they incurred to pamper their
own bodies and fuddle their brains
that their noble descendant is now en-
gagged III exterlninating the unfortunate
tenantry of Mitchelstown, not tor re-
pudiating any honest debt, but because
they will not surrender the homes IN
which their fathers lived and died, and
the lands that are watered with their
sweat to pay for the claret and the dis
sipations of those old Evolves OF the
Galtees.'' But undoubtedly the people
did not like the Irish gentry the less for
their contempt for the law and their
way of dealing with bailiffs. Aristoc-
racy was respected almost to alteration
point. I remember when we were
young fellows long ago in my native
town Of Mallow we used to think the
club house there a kind Of seventh
heaven inhabited by beings Of quite an
other order from mere people who
worked for Lying. 1t seemed as
much dispensation of Providence that
the sun should rise in the heavens every
day that the gentry should lord it over
us and look down on us. 1t seemed part
of the order and arrangement Of the uni
verse. Well, I think, we have some
what moderated these gentlemen's esti-
mate of their own Importance. can
hardly ever pass that club house now
without thinking that there is not a
cabin in the poor suburb OF Ballyda-
been whose inmates have not as much
influence upon the current of affairs as
the whole galaxy of gentlemen who
assemble on the club house steps put
together. Now. what is the reason of
this extraordinary transformation? l
often think that one Of the bitterest re-
Elections of the Irish gentry in these
days of humiliation and helplessness
must be that it is all their own fault
that they had the country and people
hundreds of years like potter's clay in
THEN hands. If they had chosen to be
the peoples chiefs and leaders instead
of being their slave drivers the Irish
aristocracy might have had great ca
reer. Unquestionably, rank and bril-
liancy and chivalry, and all the quail
ties that appertain to q privileged, lei
sured class, have always had fascina
tion for the Irish people. Men Of that
class who, instead Of standing apart in
cold and naughty isolation, have given
their hearts and lives to the rescue Of
their down -trod dden nation are the !.